A recent audit of Oklahoma’s Tulsa Public Schools reported financial mismanagement, noncompliance with state law and district policy, and a lack of transparency by administrators.
State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd said auditors reviewed $37.7 million in Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) expenditures between 2015 and 2023 and found that $29 million was paid to consultants. Byrd said auditors found 1,450 discrepancies in 900 invoices and 90 vendor records.
The report also alleged that TPS may have violated a state law prohibiting the teaching of critical race theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in Oklahoma’s public schools.
In October 2023, Fletcher pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He admitted to stealing $603,000 from TPS and the Foundation for Tulsa Schools, a nonprofit created to support TPS programs. Byrd said he was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
Byrd alleged Fletcher only perpetuated mismanagement that TPS administrators had engaged in since at least 2018.
“Fletcher’s misconduct was the result of a much larger problem,” Byrd said.
She said that the TPS board shared some responsibility.
“Had board members acted with more diligence ... they would have been in a much better position to prevent Fletcher’s malfeasance and to provide the oversight that state law requires,” Byrd said.
According to the report, TPS administrators routinely covered expenditures with foundation money. In this way, the report alleged, they avoided TPS policy 5202, which required requests for proposals, competitive bidding, and itemized invoices for any expenditure greater than $50,000.
Using foundation money also allegedly enabled them to hide much of the mismanagement from TPS board members since the board did not routinely review foundation expenditures, according to the report.
Auditors reported more than $25 million in contracts for which TPS had no requests for proposals. Many of the contracts were just below the $50,000 threshold. This meant no bids were required.
These allegedly included contracts with vendors who had relationships with administrators, board members, or former school system employees.
For example, the report states that a company named Snickelbox was hired in 2018 to provide consulting services. Between 2018 and 2022, TPS paid Snickelbox $872,588. Auditors said they determined that $329,278 of the total amount was paid fraudulently.
According to the report, Snickelbox invoices provided no details on what TPS paid for. In addition, Snickelbox contracts did not specify what TPS could expect from the company. This lack of detail made it difficult to determine which payments were fraudulent, the report stated.
According to the report, four other TPS employees—lead Budget Analyst Elizabeth Richardson, Chief Financial Officer Jill Hendricks, former Chief Financial Officer Nolberto Delgadillo, and Director of Materials Management Rachel Vejraska-Thomas—approved the Snickelbox payments.
Lauren O’Mara, who owned Snickelbox, and Fletcher had attended a fellowship with The Broad Center at the Yale School of Management, according to the report. The auditors reported that TPS made payments to 16 Broad Center alumni during the audit period.
According to the report, The Broad Center “operates as an independent nonprofit organization that identifies, develops, and supports K-12 public school system leaders who they believe are committed to ensuring that every school, classroom, and child receives the resources they need to succeed.”
The Broad Center’s webpage stated that “Diversity, Equity, and Racial Justice are essential” to its “mission of empowering school system leaders to achieve the dual goals of excellence and equity.”
Stitt asked Byrd to look into allegations that TPS had violated House Bill 1775, which banned critical race theory and DEI curricula from Oklahoma’s public schools. The Legislature passed the law in 2021.
In 2023, the Oklahoma State Department of Education issued Board Order 2023-SR-0240, which required all school districts to submit a report that includes “all DEI-related expenditures made in the school district during the 2022-2023 school year.” According to the audit report, the order also covered information “that related to DEI ‘as concepts.’”
Auditors reported that TPS administrators worked with The Broad Center at Yale to hire its graduates.
Foundation funds were used to cover travel expenses for TPS employees to attend Broad Center programs, according to the report. Between 2018 and 2020, TPS hosted programs and meetings at Tulsa locations where Broad cohorts participated in programs that included a Child Equity Index Exercise and a DEI at Night function.
Between 2016 and 2023, TPS paid 23 vendors more than $6.2 million for consulting services, the report stated. Prior to hiring Broad Center graduates, the district had no relationship with any of those vendors, auditors said.
Byrd said she had turned her findings over to Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s office for the investigation of possible criminal activity. A spokesman for Drummond’s office said the attorney general stays in regular contact with all state agencies.
“However, to protect the integrity of investigations and to protect the reputations of innocent people, we do not typically confirm or deny our investigations or our communications with our law enforcement partners,” communications director Phil Bacharach wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.
